Throughout his four-year UFC career, welterweight Martin Kampmann has often been labeled a Danish kickboxer.

Despite six submission wins to Kampmann’s credit, perhaps no fight better showcased his now-well-rounded game than Saturday’s unanimous-decision win over Paulo Thiago.

UFC president Dana White, in fact, said Kampmann (17-3 MMA, 8-2 UFC) was able to do something no one else has: make Thiago (13-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) uncomfortable on his feet.

“You could tell that Paulo Thiago didn’t want to stand up with him anymore,” White told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) following Saturday’s event at GM Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. “I’m impressed with (Josh) Koscheck’s stand up now. Paulo Thiago stood right in there with him and knocked him out. He stood up with Mike Swick, but he couldn’t stand up with Kampmann tonight.”

But that’s not where his dominance stopped.

“He couldn’t even do anything on the ground with him, either,” White said. “Kampmann controlled him wrestling and jiu jitsu-wise.”

In fact, Kampmann, who’s now four of his five fights since a drop from middleweight to welterweight, thinks he’s been mislabeled a mere striker despite his ever-involving game.

“I train with some really good jiu-jitsu guys in (Las) Vegas,” he said. “I got labeled as a striker when I first came in the UFC, but I always work a lot on my ground game. I felt very confident in my ground game. I felt I definitely had to be cautious with him, but I felt I was the better fighter in all aspects, and I think I proved that tonight.”

Thiago, a Brazilian special-forces police officer who made an immediate impact when he knocked out Koscheck in his octagon debut, survived the three rounds, but Kampmann won a lopsided unanimous decision via scores of 30-27.

White said it was just the type of victory Kampmann needed to become a breakout star in the 170-pound division.

“Paulo Thiago, in my opinion, was one of the best guys at 170 pounds,” he said. “You want to talk about a guy that was completely underrated because he had no name value? [Martin Kampmann] is not a big name yet. Tonight was a huge win for [him]. That was one of the fights I was most excited about seeing tonight.”

The fight especially appealed to Kampmann because of Thiago’s top-10 standing in the division and his contender status. And though UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and top contender Josh Koscheck are slated for a December title fight, and with Thiago Alves and fellow contender Jon Fitch expected to meet at UFC 117 in August, Kampmann knows few big names remain for his next fight. In fact, the biggest name available may now be Carlos Condit, a former WEC champion who also picked up a win at UFC 115.

Regardless, Kampmann just wants to continue his ascent toward the top of the division.

“I want to fight the guys that are ranked high at welterweight,” he said. “It makes me move up the ladder and continue to get closer to a title shot.”